Creating Hope hosting suicide prevention week

Creating Hope hosting suicide prevention week

Local organizers are aiming to reach those in need with the message of "You are tough enough." The mantra being they are tough enough to get through the day, to speak out about mental health, to help someone who is struggling and to overcome the stigmas surrounding suicide and mental health.

All saving a life can take is a moment — a moment’s hesitation, a moment’s reflection, a moment to understand this moment will pass.

Creating Hope — a joint venture between Stony Plain FCSS and the Coordinated Suicide Prevention program — is hosting a Suicide Prevention Week starting on Sunday and running through Sept. 14. The week is built around World Suicide Day on Tuesday, a day to raise awareness for the mental health crisis. It may be an international day of understanding, but it is an issue that has hit the region hard.

Local organizers are aiming to reach those in need with the message of “You are tough enough.” The mantra being they are tough enough to get through the day, to speak out about mental health, to help someone who is struggling and to overcome the stigmas surrounding suicide and mental health.

“It’s very important for the community, when you talk about mental health 60 per cent of people won’t seek help for their mental illnesses, and when you look at suicide, 90 per cent of that is related to mental illnesses,” said Creating Hope community development coordinator Angela Fetch Muzyka.

“Mental health isn’t always just having a great day and being positive, you can’t just be positive all the time … mental health is up and down, we have good days and we have bad days, it’s finding that balance between the good days and bad days and being able to bounce back from the bad days.”

According to the Centre for Suicide Prevention, in a five-year period from 2012-17 the annual number of death by suicide in Alberta rose from 505 to 637, peaking in 2015 with 668. The numbers have gone up in the Edmonton region in that same time frame from 128 in 2012 to 166 in 2017.

Fetch Muzyka said these statistics do not discriminate, it is an issue that crosses all demographics and socioeconomic levels from teens getting bullied at school to those who are feeling lost after losing a job, those battling addictions, and even some seniors who feel isolated or like a burden on their families.

To help combat this issue on a local level, Creating Hope was formed earlier this year in a joint effort Stony Plain FCSS and Coordinated Suicide Prevention Program. It is designed to be a more focussed and specialized approach to awareness and prevention in the Tri-Region, and helping people understand the resources that are available to them from support groups to counselling and urgent care.

It is an uphill battle in breaking down walls for those who want to build them up as they fall further into their own struggles and a high-crisis state.

“The most important thing is that we are doing it early,” said Fetch Muzyka.

Edmonton social worker Eugena Maguire, who is hosting a presentation on Monday called “Into the Heart of Suicide,” says the world has come a long way in recent years on the topic of suicide. It used to be spoken about only in hushed tones or behind closed doors. Now she sees the path to healing for survivors or family members of those who have died through talking.

“Suicidal impulses or feelings are totally within a normal set of human emotions when we are feeling very frustrated or hopeless about the condition of our lives or the condition of our relationship,” said Maguire. “It’s really important for people to hear. It’s not just in that realm of ‘those people over there with mental health issues.’ It’s something we all struggle with in the human journey or at least we will encounter someone else who is struggling with suicidal ideation.”

Her discussion at 5:30 p.m. at Heritage Park, will look at understanding suicide through our need for connection, drawing on her own recovery from her mother’s suicide. Following her presentation there will be an opportunity for questions. For tickets and more information call 780-963-8583.

“It’s a way to help people make sense of suicide from an underlying causes perspective,” said Maguire. “The presentation explores how to come along side someone who may be feeling suicidal, how to make sense of why people come to that place of having suicidal ideation and just normalizing it.”

The week of awareness starts on Sunday with the 16th annual Rotary Run for Life, highlighted by the Memory Mile which allows participants to pay tribute to loved ones who have died by suicide or their own personal struggles. The run includes five- and 10-kilometre routes as well as a half marathon.

There are two garden builds set, one on Tuesday at the Spruce Grove Agricultural Community Garden at 455 King Street from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will be followed by a candlelight ceremony. A second garden build will go on Sept. 14 from 1-4 p.m. at the Stony Plain Multicultural Centre.

On Thursday, there will be a SafeTALK course that will inform registrants of the signs someone is struggling with suicide and how to assist them in getting help. To register call 780-963-8583.